Cara Vavolotis is begins her fifth year as assistant sailing coach at Old Dominion University.

"We are thrilled to have Cara as part of the Monarch team," said ODU head coach Mitch Brindley. "Old Dominion has been fortunate to have a line of great coaches from the Monarch family. This is the first time we have hired an assistant sailing coach who wasn't an alumnus. Cara brings a great deal of fresh talent to our coaching team, and I am excited to start working with her."

Vavolotis helped guide the women's team to a 14th place at the 2015 ICSA National Championships and a fourth place finish in 2014. The co-ed team took 10th in 2015 and was sixth in 2014.

She has also sailed competitively, including sailing in the Olympics 470 class, including the 2010-12 Miami Olympic Class Regatta. In 2011, she sailed in the ISAF World Championships in Perth, Australia and in 2012 finished third in the women's Division at the Snipe Western Hemisphere Orient Regatta in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Vavolotis was a four-year standout on the Eckerd sailing team and as a senior in 2010 she was named Honorable Mention All-American. Additionally, Vavolotis was selected as Eckerd's Women's Skipper of the Year in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

As an assistant coach with Eckerd in 2011, Vavolotis guided the Tritons to berths in both the ICSA/Gill Co-ed National Championships and the Sperry Top-Sider/ICSA Women's finals.